LeBron James scored a career playoff-high 48 points, including the Cleveland Cavaliers final 25 points in a double-overtime victory Thursday night. The victory moves the Cavs to within one win of the NBA finals.
Last year, Cleveland was in the same position up 3-2 on the Detroit Pistons. Last year, the Cavaliers lost the final two games and the series. Their fortunes are about to be reversed.
However, it is not because of King James. The reason happens to be No. 84 for the Pistons, Chris Webber.
Webber is not a winner, plain and simple.
Jump back to 1993, the championship game of the NCAA Tournament. Michigan trails the North Carolina Tar Heels by two points. Webber dribbles the ball into the corner and attempts to call a timeout. However, Michigan had already used their final timeout, and Webber earned his team a technical foul. The Tar Heels went on to win the game, 77-71.
Webber caused one of the most notorious blunders in NCAA history. Unfortunately for C-Webb, that moment was seared into his psyche.
Sure, Webber lead his high school teams to three state championships. But in the NBA, things have looked a lot different.
During the 1996-97 season, C-Webb helped the Washington Bullets earn their first playoff berth since 1988. Three games later it was over. In Sacramento, where Webber spent the majority of his career, the Kings never made the NBA finals.
The Kings with Webber made the playoffs six times, losing twice in the first round, three times in the semifinals and once in the conference finals. The Western Conference final choke came in 2001-02 as the Kings dropped two straight against their division rival the LA Lakers. Three times Webber's Sacramento teams lost game seven.
The series versus the Lakers is the defining playoff moment of Webber's career. Webber played well throughout, but did not have an answer for LA's superior star power.
The Pistons and Chris Webber face a bleak off-season. The championship that eluded C-Webb in college will remain elusive yet again as his professional career wanes.
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